The Thinking Man's Zombie Movie

Rating: Null/10 (19 October 2003)

**********Possible spoilers***************
After several weeks of mulling it over, I finally got around to sitting down and viewing Danny Boyle's 2002 hit 28 Days Later. I had a lot of apprehension going into this film due to the fact that I was a huge fan of Mr. Boyle's first three films ( Shallow Grave, Trainspotting, and A Life Less Ordinary) , as well as a huge fan of Zombie movies. With the buzz on this film , my expectations were pretty high, and I could not stand being let down . Thankfully I wasn't.
28 Days Later could best be described as the thinking mans zombie movie. It is a literate post-modern take on the genera. Gone are the voodoo and toxic waste the we settled for in the past, these zombies are the by-product of experimentation on animals. In the film a group of animal rights activists break into a lab to liberate some animals, unfortunately they also liberate a blood-born virus that induces a zombie-like rage. Within 10 to 20 seconds of contact with an infected person's bodily fluids you are infected as well. Within 28 days all of Britain has succumbed to the rage-virus.
Enter Jim, our films protagonist (deftly portrayed by Cillian Murphy), he has just awakened from a coma into this world and must cope with a world who's rules of survival have changed. Eventually he hooks up with a small band of survivors who try to find someway out of this madness.
Alex Garland's script capture is highly inventive and although the dialogue tends to be predictable, he does add a nice darkly comic edge. Anthony Dod Mantle paints an amazing picture on screen that is at the same time rich and vibrant and dark and foreboding. Some of the acting is below par, particularly from the soldiers of blockade 21. However, Naomie Harris is superb as the pharmacist cum tough-girl Selena.
Despite its flaws 28 Days Later is still an excellent film. It takes many of the conventions of zombie movies and turns them on their collective ears in order to create a swift , yet tense film. It's one of a few recent western made horror films to truly pack a punch in the scare department. All and all, I'd have to recommend 28 Days Later to any fan of the genre and to movie-goers looking for something unexpected.